Posted by
Daniel de Gracia II on Thursday, March 12, 2009 11:54:18 PM
Hawaii Residents Are Drowning In Taxes
by Sarah Hunt
(Reprinted from HawaiiReporter.com)
In its historical context, the slogan, "no taxation without representation," signifies the very reason this nation was founded. The British colonists felt as though they were being taxed unfairly by not having a voice in parliament to represent them. However, we have come a long way in America, only to end up back to where we came from in the colonies, taxed heavily without being properly represented.
In Hawaii, according to People's Pulse, 85% of people want tax cuts. However, the State Legislature has no tax cutting measures being offered for the public. Not only are they not offering tax relief, the majority of their bills are tax increasing measures. This would strongly indicate that the Hawaii State Legislature is out of touch with hard working Americans.
Instead of downsizing government and lowering taxes, the local state government has decided to downsize government yet increase the tax burden. Have we not learned from our past mistakes? Have Americans forgotten what this great country was forged from? Is it time to revolt against bad government and remind them who pays their checks?
When government does not have my best interests at heart by: not protecting me from crime, jeopardizing my constitutional rights, and deterring me from my pursuit of success, then they have become a hazard to all Americans. We have once again become a people that have lost its representation, yet continue to be taxed. Since when has the foundation of this country been government? The foundation of this country is people working for their own purposes and enriching society as they do.
We have created a government in Hawaii that is too large to oversee. The government's payroll gets bigger every year. The government's tax burdens get bigger every year. The government's regulations get bigger every year, thus restricting people to live a free life and reducing the quality of life. One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin once said, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
We are slowly becoming enslaved to government and doing just that. As a result of over reliance on government, the Hawaii State Legislature and Federal government have both become corrupt and have both lost focus. As a result of not checking government, excess spending and special interest programs have made tax relief impossible.
As a result of not having government accountability, protective mechanisms that secure our safety have become jeopardized and replaced by special interests. The democrat majority have controlled the state for the last 54 years. Because of this, we have one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. We have the 49th worst education system in America. Are you getting your money's worth?
All the high achievers, such as doctors, business producers and hard working Americans, are leaving this state in droves. We are kicking out people that produce jobs for the local economy and are replacing them with government assistance leaches and welfare recipients. We are ruining the quality of our neighbors and destroying their ability to provide for themselves.
We have reached a point where our government is a self-expanding monster that swallows investment money and promotes failure. If we have a government that continues to create more government, where will we get the money to fund government? Eventually Hawaii's local government will run out of somebody else's money to spend. In this economic downturn, the answer to stimulate the economy isn't more government jobs. We need to get the government off the backs of hard working Americans and provide an incentive for businesses to grow. People voted for change in the recent Presidential Election.
What change did the people of Hawaii get? At the national level, the latest stimulus bill has 9,000 earmarks after Obama promised to do away with earmarks. He broke his promise. The majority in Congress still remains with power players like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the Hawaii State Legislature is still over 90% democrat controlled. We have allowed a corrupt and selfish government to operate, without any political accountability, and without any real checks or balances.
The reflection of the people's voice continues to get drowned out by the reflection and voice of what government wants. The National Democrats economic stimulus plan would rather de-stimulate the economy and handicap it for the next 50 years. Everyone under the age of 30, congratulations! You will be paying for this! Our elected congressional and senatorial leaders have amassed a debt so large that the future for the younger generations of America is starting to look very grim.
Children born today will be saddled with the tide of red deficit spending that this government is producing. Third world countries are breaking out into civil warfare, looking for food and money. The Mexican government is on the brink of collapse. Residents from Canada mock us for not having comprehensive healthcare, but come to America when they get sick. California is bankrupt.
That's where liberal out of control spending will get you. Do we really want the rest of the country to look like California? Liberalism, socialism and communism have never worked as an economic system. It didn't work in Russia. It hasn’t worked in Europe and it won't work here in America. The only economic system that makes sense is for Americans to work hard and profit from the fruit of their labor.
The best we can do, as Americans, is simply take our lessons with us and work to create a prosperous society, by offering real economic stimulus, tax relief. This is a very simple economic concept, one that the Hawaii State Legislature fails to accept. It is not that our Representatives do not understand the economic impact of overtaxing Hawaiian society. They no longer answer to you, the citizens. They answer to their special interests. They don't care what you, the voter, think.
Pleasing their special interests is their main priority. That’s right, our State Legislature is corrupt. They continue to vote for tax increases because we don't hold them accountable. Whose fault is this? It is yours, citizens. You have not held them accountable. You get the government you really want. Cradle to grave security is incompatible with personal freedom. A government strong enough to take care of all your needs is strong enough to take all you own. You should take care of all your needs, not your government.
How much of your paycheck are you willing to give to the government? Everyone loves a government that subsidizes their own vision, especially legislators who benefit from your money. Liberalism is highly profitable for those who are on the receiving end. The only people who don't benefit are the hard working Americans trying to make money just to pay the rent. However, this redistribution of wealth is simply stealing somebody else's money and giving it to a recipient who did nothing to receive it. When has it been right to take from someone who is working hard and succeeding to give to someone who doesn't want to work? There is a minority of people that through accident, health or other unfortunate circumstances, are unable to support themselves. A compassionate government should provide for these people. However, far too many people who could work don't. Far too many people think its okay to take away from the backs of hard working Americans. Why should we support an 18 year old who doesn't have the motivation to pass high school?
Why should we support an 18 year old who decides to drop out of high school and can't find employment? Why should we support an 18 year old that chose to have 4 children and can't support themselves? The answer is, we shouldn't. These attitudes will grow with liberalism. This is a self failing concept and is unhealthy to promote. We are stirring very dangerous breeding grounds to allow socialism to prosper. We punish achievers! We allow mediocrity to thrive by saying, "Don't succeed, because if you do, we will take away your success."
In turn, people settle for government jobs and by proxy have to depend on government growth. The most compassionate thing that we can do for those children is to get these people out of their chaotic environment and give them the tools to succeed. Self-reliance and succeeding on your own is what the Republican Party is all about.
So, how is it that the democratic majority is so successful in making the public believe that they are the party of the poor, when they tax the poor heavily? The food tax is the most regressive tax and, it disproportionally falls on the poor. Hawaii is one of only eight states that do not offer either a total exemption or decreased tax on food products in the United States. That’s right! The government even taxes you on food. And it isn’t at 4 %. It is more like 12-14% with the GET. We are the only state in America to tax you to death on food.
Taxing food products is extremely regressive, as low-income households spend a greater percentage of their income on the food tax than do households from higher income brackets. The food tax is also an anti-family tax: households with more mouths to feed buy more groceries and therefore pay more food tax. Exempting food from taxation would effectively increase the paycheck of working middle class Hawaii families and stop punishing those with larger families to support. Native Hawaiian families are disproportionately punished because they tend to be larger than other families and have a higher percentage of families below poverty levels.
Tax relief facilitates recovery and strengthens the local economy through encouraging economic growth. So, again I ask you, how is the Democratic Party helping you? Tax relief bills are drafted at the state level every year. However, Democrats won't even hear these bills. Why? The Democratic Party isn't interested in you succeeding! They are only interested in making as many of you dependant on them so that you are forced to vote them into office every year. They are only interested in making you just get by on the government goal. They are making you economic slaves of the democrat party! What do we need to do? We need to work together as the People in Hawaii and hold these crooks and cronies accountable. We simply need to get them out of office! We need to replace them with smart, hard working Americans who understand the American Dream, and don't want to rob us of it.
When do we as the residents of Hawaii step in to protect our right to that American Dream that our grandparents and great grandparents migrated here for. Our rights to pursue success and prosperity are being eroded by the very institution that was created to protect and defend our liberties. We have reverted to accepting a poor educational standard in Hawaii, because we have learned to accept mediocrity. We have had to pay high taxes, and reduce our quality of living to subsidize the government's excess shopping addiction. We are continually heavily taxed on such basic necessities as food, medicine and gasoline.
But wait… there is a light at the end of this very dark tunnel. We as citizens have the right to choose our way of living. We have the right to dictate whether or not we would like to improve our quality of life. All we have to do is simply cast our vote in the right direction. The money is yours for the taking. Take it back and choose how to spend your money. Don't give it to government to inefficiently spend for you. However, if you continue to vote to allow the democrat government to control your lives, it will be the last time you have a choice to choose how you live. Freedom can be voted away. All you have to do is look at Germany in the 1920s and 30s.
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Sarah Hunt is the host of the television show "Better Government."